Undetachable cap assembly



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Oct. 13, 1970 UNDETACHABLE CAP ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed NOV. 28. 1967 FlG.i

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(IMM/wf United States Patent O 'i 3,533,538 UNDETACHABLE CAP ASSEMBLY Rinnosuke Susuki, Tokyo, and Hiroshi Hoshi, Narashinoshi, Japan, assignors to Raion Yushi Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, Japan Filed Nov. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 686,007 Int. Cl. B65d 47/.74

U.S. Cl. 222--545 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE A cap assembly for containers designed to dispense detergents, seasonings, drugs, chemicals or like contents, which is of a structure not reversely removably rotatable because of the interengagement between either an annular abutment flange or recessed groove or abutment notch provided on the outer periphery of the neck of such a container and an annular retaining flange or ridge provided on the inner periphery of the cap. Thus, troubles such as pilferage of the contents and contamination of the contents with foreign bodies are eliminated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to a cap assembly for containers designed to dispense detergents, seasonings, drugs, chemicals or like contents, and more particularly to a cap assembly which, once mounted to the container filled with contents, would not easily become loosened or unscrewed and would not detach from the container.

Description of the prior art During the course of distribution of the packages filled with such contents as enumerated above after they are shipped from the manufacturers factories till they are delivered to the consumers, there is a fear for the occurrence of mischiefs that the caps are removed to partially or entirely pilfer the contents or introduce foreign bodies into the contents. Even after these goods have been delivered to the users, there still is a danger that the caps become loosened or unscrewed by small children while they are playing with such containers and that a large amount of contents is orally taken at a time by the children.

For the foregoing reasons, there has been a keen demand for caps which are very difficult to remove from the containers or which are structured so as to be practically undetachable from the containers. Especially, with a container designed so that a small hole for dispensing the contents is to be formed by cutting ofl the tip of the spout neck, the cap assembly may be of the type that cannot be removed by the user. To this end, there has been proposed to adhesively attach a cap to a container. In order to do so, either an adhesive agent has to be applied to the cap and/or the body of the container, or, where the cap is bonded by heat to the body of the container, there is required the use of a heating apparatus. Furthermore, there is consumed a considerable length of time before complete bonding or adhesion is effected. This is why there has been a keen demand for undetachable cap assembly which can be attached readily by the use of a capping machine designed for ordinary screw caps.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide a cap which can be readily screwed onto the neck of the container to attach the cap to the latter, but which requires a considerable amount of torque to turn the cap reversewise to unscrew it, and which, accordingly, is practically undetachable.

Patented Oct. 13, 1970 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross sectional View, showing the state in which the cap member of the present invention is attached to the neck of a container;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation, in an enlarged scale, of the neck of the container of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross sectional View of the cap member;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional View, showing the state in which the cap member engages the neck of the container;

FIG. 5 is a View similar to FIG. 4, of another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are further alternative embodiments of the captive cap assembly details:

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a cap member 2 having a threaded skirt portion 21 adapted to fitin a threaded portion 11 of the neck of a container body 1 is mounted onto said threaded portion 11 of the containers neck. All around the outer periphery at a site above the threaded portion 11 of the neck of the container 1, there is provided a thin, flexible flange 12 extending radially and outwardly from the neck of the container. The cap member 2 is provided, around the inner periphery at a site corresponding to said flange 12 of the containers neck, with a radial ridge 22 of a shape similar to said flange 12, except that said ridge extends inwardly from the inner periphery of the cap member 2. It is necessary that said flange 12 be given a radial length H which is greater than the distance or clearance between the face of the outer peripheral wall of the spout neck of the container 1 and the face of the inner peripheral wall of the cap member 2 (FIG. 4). However, this restriction is not particularly necessary for the length h of the ridge 22. Reference numeral 23 represents a portion 0f the containers neck where a hole for dispensing the contents is to be formed.

When this cap member 2 is mounted onto the neck of the container 1, the flange 22 of the cap member 2 passes beyond the flange 12 of the container 1 while deforming the latter flange 12, as is shown in FIGS. l and 4, and finally, the engagement therebetween is established in the form as shown in FIG. 4. When an external force is applied to the cap member 2 to unscrew the latter, such force will urge the flange 12 of the container to warp backward or reversewise within a space c which is narrower than the radial length H of the flange 12. In order to accomplish this deformation of the flange 12 of the container, there is required the application of such a great amount of force as is uncomparable to the amount of force applied initially to said flange 12 to effect deformation when mounting the cap member 2 onto the spout neck of the container. Thus, this arrangement of the cap and the neck of the container constitute an undetachable cap which is practically unscrewable.

The following Table 1 shows the result of an experiment conducted on the cap assemblies of the present invention provided with flanges of different thicknesses to show how the degree of undetachability of the cap member changes with the thickness of the flange.

TABLE l.-RESULT OF EXPERIMENT ON 'PORQUE OF CAP MEMBER [Wherein: the radial length H of flange is 2 mm.; the radial length h of ridge is 0.7 mm., and clearance c is l mm.]

From this table, it is known that the torque which is necessary for mounting the cap member and the torque which is required for reversely turning the cap member varies with the thickness t of the flange 12 of the container. It is considered that the torque applied to the cap member for effecting the reverse turning of the cap member is at least twice as that required for mounting the cap member onto the neck. In other words, its absolute value is considered to be 15 kg./cm. or more.

FIG. shows a modified embodiment of the present invention which is based on the same conception and which can accomplish the same effect as that obtained from the foregoing example. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the outer periphery of the neck of the container 1 is provided, around thereof, with a recess or notch 102 having a substantially V-shaped cross section. The flange 202 of the cap member 2 is forced to snap into this recess to thereby produce tight engagement which prevents the detachment of the cap member from the neck of the container.

The flange 202 or the ridge may be made to have a desired thickness. In order to increase the degree of undetachability of the cap member 2, it is only necessary to increase the thickness of said flange.

The cap member and the neck combination of the present invention may be manufactured with the same resilient synthetic resinous material with which the container body is made, The flange or flanges may be made integrally with the cap member and the neck, respectively, with the same material as that constituting these members. A similar effect can be obtained also from the arrangement where only the flange or flanges are formed with a flexible material different from that used in making the cap member and the neck. However, the formation of cap member, neck, flanges and the body of container with the same material is suited for mass production and is more practical in that the cost of manufacture is reduced.

It is to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are described and illustrated only by way of example, that the present invention is not restricted to these embodiments alone, and that various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Captive means for relatively axially shiftable onepiece closure cap means having a skirt portion opposite an initially closed end wall thereof, and axial extended discharge spout means of a dispensing container, said cap and spout including complementally formed first interengageable means on their respective inner and outer peripheries to permit relative axial movement thereof, said means for effecting captivity of said closure cap means relative to said container spout means comprising in combination:

(a) relatively engageable second cooperative means other than the aforesaid first complementally interengageable means that permit relative axial movement of the cap and spout, said second means disposed on the cap and spout axially outward of the respective first interengageable means opposite from the base of the spout and the bottom of said skirt portion of the cap;

(b) said second means of paragraph (a) above including relatively interengageable, generally radially extending flange and abutment means provided on the outer periphery of said spout and on the inner periphery of said closure cap, with said flange and abutment means disposed in slightly axially spaced relation to each other;

(c) said flange being of relatively flexible or resilient material and having a radially extended annular free edge, said flange having a radially extending dimension, prior to assembly of the relative parts, of substantially greater extent than the corresponding dimension of said radial abutment means and of the radial distance between the relative root or base diameter dimensions of said spout and cap members in the immediate area thereof; and

(d) said radial flange being deformable during assembly of the parts to alter the initial disposition of the normal radial plane of said flange and after assembly said flange being held in an angularly deformed manner to assume a generally truncated conical shape in a direction toward said abutment and by engagement against the base diameter of said abutment means, with the free radial edge of said flange adapted to abut the said abutment means responsive to relative axial movement of said cap and container spout, and to thereby effect captivity and to limit the extent of axial movement in a cap removal direction.

2. Captive closure means as defined in claim 1, wherein the first interengageable means on the respective inner and outer peripheries of said cap and spout are complementally formed and coopera-bly acting screw threads, which, upon relative rotation thereof, serve to impart axial shifting movement of said cap relative to said spout.

3. Captive closure means as defined in claim 1 wherein the radially extending flange and abutment means of paragraph (b) include:

(a) an annular retaining flange provided on the spout and projecting radially outward in a plane generally transverse to the axis of said spout; and

(b)said abutment means includes an annular abutment flange extending radially from the inner periphery of said cap in a plane generally transverse to the axis of said spout, said abutment flange being axially spaced a suflicient distance from the inner initially closed end Wall of said cap to accommodate the excess length of the deformed retaining flange, said abutment flange terminating at its base in a transverse base Wall extending generally parallel to the axis of said spout, and against which the outer periphery of said retaining flange engages to cause the angular deformation thereof, and said abutment flange terminating at its outer portion in a free annular edge, the latter of which, when in assembled condition, does not frictionally engage the base diameter of the spout, at least to any appreciable extent.

4. Captive closure means as defined in claim 1 wherein the radially extending flange and abutment means of paragraph (b) include:

(a) an annular retaining flange provided on the inner periphery of said cap and extending radially inward in a plane generally transverse to the axis of said spout when in its initially formed and prior-to-assembly state; said retaining flange being axially spaced from the inner initially closed end wall of said cap, and

(b) an annular abutment flange or shoulder provided on the outer peripheral portion of said spout for abutting engagement by said retaining flange, responsive to the relative rotation of said cap and container spout.

5. Captive closure means as defined in claim 4 wherein the annular abutment flange or shoulder of paragraph (6) is formed on the spout by an annular recessed groove provided therein, said groove characterized by a relatively 6 straight shouldered portion constituting an abutment seat 2,309,895 2/ 1943 Griith 222-490 X and extending in a .plane generally transverse to the axis 3,273,754 9/ 1966 Lindley 222-562 X of said spout, said seat adapted to be selectively abutted by the inner peripheral edge of said retaining flange. SAMUEL E COLEMAN, Primary Examiner References Cited 5 H. S. LANE, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS U.S. Cl. X.R.

1,335,594 10/1920 Harris Z22-545 222-562 

